Biography

Les Johnson, an author, futurist, and NASA technologist, has written several science fiction novels and multiple popular science nonfiction books, including Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World, The Spacetime War, and Saving Proxima. His books earned him the Canopus Award and the Watkins Prize for Science Writing. In his day job, Johnson works at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he builds spaceships.

Schedule

1:15 pm to 2:00 pm
State Library Seminar Center
A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars

2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

Book Trailer

A Traveler's Guide to the Stars

With known exoplanets now numbering in the thousands and initiatives like 100 Year Starship and Breakthrough Starshot advancing the idea of interstellar travel, the age-old dream of venturing forth into the cosmos and perhaps even colonizing distant worlds may one day become a reality. A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars reveals how.

Les Johnson takes you on a thrilling tour of the physics and technologies that may enable us to reach the stars. He discusses the latest exoplanet discoveries, promising interstellar missions on the not-so-distant horizon, and exciting new developments in space propulsion, power, robotics, communications, and more. But interstellar travel will not be easy, and it is not for the faint of heart. Johnson describes the harsh and forbidding expanse of space that awaits us, and he addresses the daunting challenges—both human and technological—that we will need to overcome in order to realize tomorrow’s possibilities.

A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars is your passport to the next great frontier of human discovery, providing a rare inside look at the remarkable breakthroughs in science and technology that will help tomorrow’s space travelers chart a course for the stars.